scn5 strip n clean

Hi just got bored so decided to service my scn5 and thought i would do a full strip and clean and then check re-grease.
these are quite olde now at least 4/5 years old at least i nbought them used so it could be more.
i feel they was getting louder so off they it came and the task was started.

tools you will need are....

allen keys
phillips screw driver
small brush
grease
thermal paste
solderong iron
solder
wrags
brake cleaner or cleaning fluid of some kind
allow about 2hrs in time each scn5 to not rush it.


first theres a plastic cover you need to remove theres 3 screws two at bottom and one at the top. taking this off reveals the circuit board.
the circuit board is held on with 1` screw but you need to be careful now as the boards is connected to the servo via pins.
there is also a cable earth that needs to be unsolderd from the board.




after the board is taken of you will see it has thermal paste from chips to the caseing of the scn5, this is to disperse the heat so when put back together don't forget new paste.



here what it looks like and the pins you can see that connect to the board.




there ya go should be left looking like this. ;-)




make sure you clean it up before stripping else it gets well messy with paste everywhere.





you can now take the end off via 4 x allen keys screws. this basically houses the bush and stops it flopping about too much, i would like to put a new one in at some point if i can find them, once undone you can pop it off.




you can now undo the 4x smaller allen key screw that screw into the servo motor to release the whole of the body.

you should be able to split it all now, you can pull on the shaft or you can turn the whole body to release it all.
you will prob need the nut on the end to get a grip of the output shaft to pull it.
should go easy once started.

should have this now.










now your here you can inspect it all.
i did abit of a clean so they wont look too bad on these pics, i forgot to take picture :-( doh. but they was quite filthy with fluffy bits n blobs on the runners.
i am quite lucky as i have a parts cleaner but you can easily clean them up a can of brake cleaner of something.
(i did notice there was a sticky spot pulling the shaft out and puching in to test it was sticking and after i did all what i am doing here it was gone after i put it back together).

some pics dirty and then cleaned.







now after clean up to which cleans up very well look new again.









right now nyour ready to grease up all the bits ;-)
i used a smalll paint brush to get right in there on the main body with the grease.









now it looks great and fresh n clean you can start putting it back together now, but what you need to do is get your thermal paste and put some on the end that bolts to the servo motor to help disperse the heat into the main body before you screw it together.

Tip : don't screw it to the servo yet will tell you why in abit.

should have something now like this.






now you have put it together the pics are of me screwing it to the motor which i fouind to be wrong as you can not put the output shaft back in as it will not start the thread.
so for the tip for not screwing it onto the servo is you can now start the thread with the body by turning it to start the thread, once started you can simply push it in place and all the way down so you can easily use allen keys to do the end cap of the shaft, i also put some thermal paste on the end cap too as it more metal and wont hurt and might help disperse more heat.

now if you have screwd it back and did what i did first time you can still put the shaft on but you have to undo the plastic cover on the servo motor which i would avoid if you can as its very delicate in there due to the wheel postioner it looks very very breakeable to ie bendy, but if you do this you can now simply turn the solid part round to start the thread of the shaft, once started just put cover back on then push shaft in.
i also gave the sensor a quick blow might aswell while i had the cover off.







goes together in reverse what you have took apart so pis from earlyer coming ! lol





now we should be finnished and back to gether if i did all this right ! lol



don't forget the circuit board need the wire soldering back on and the thermal paste on the chips putting on.
pics to remind you coz i love posting the pics !lol i have a posting pic mental issues i think ! he he he.
JUST WATCH THE PINS WHEN PUTTING THE BOARD BACK ON I LOOSENED THE SERVO COVER TO GIVE ME MORE ROOM TO SEE THE PINS AND MAKEING SURE IT WAS RIGHT.




put cover back on and fit back to your rig JOBS A GOOD UN.

i hope this is useful and helps give confidence to anyone that thinks they have had there scn5s a long time and never done anything to re-fresh them.

f1iceman

i thought it might be any time ya know me.

Thanks for posting, always wondered how they were constructed. FI. Obviously these are not constructed the same as a ball screw, as you would have had ball bearings all over the floor and repacking the ball bearing back into the housing is not a fun job . Cannot tell from the pictures - is it just a acme thread into a brass nut?

hi thanks i tried to find info n thought sod it take one for the team xsimulator if i break it i still hav 1dof ! lol
i really just thought how much use they get it really should be a job to be done n felt being second hand i have no idea how much they had done, i am trying to solve noises atm so alterd the top rose joints to ball rod type and that works nice.
so next step was the scn5 and making sure its clean inside as alot of fluff does build up and wish i took the pics what it was like in side tbh.
personally from what i seen i would look into dust covers now.
the worm gear is simple tbh, the white plastic bush sits in the runners inside the main shaft and the output shaft is threaded but on about 25mm of it prob about the depth of the white plastic and the is threaded into the metal of the actual output shaft, the plastic nylon then locates, you have to basically turn the shaft to get it to start on the worm gear, which just goes inside the output shaft as it spins so i added abit mor grease in the output shaft and packed abit in there not much just enough it might still re-grease itself.
its basicall just like threading a nut on it and it slides in the case i would imagin you can get these parts for them as they look easy to change too so a full revamp can be done but i have to say the wear is very minimal not that i could sse any tbh by eye.
i must say tho it is defo better after in the way of any movement or play. will check in a week see if it changes as it beds in tho.
amazing bits of kit.

So it sounds like a acme screw. For the price, I did not expect them to be that . FI. A typical ball screw may be 90 percent efficient, versus 20 to 25 percent efficiency of an Acme lead screw of equal size (Ref Wikipedia 'Advantages' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_screw). If you are trying to quieten them down, unfortunately from my experience stepper motors always seem to be a bit noisy. I have seen users place them in sound deadening boxes to cut down the 'squeak'.

just looks like the normal screw type no bearings in there tghat i could see, like i say like putting a nut on the end is all it is tbh.
the noise is the clattering in everything else atm im trying get rid of but i thought have ago n see if re-greasing helps too.
if i was to fit in a box which is what i was thinking i would need some extra heat sinks as the air flow will not be there to keep them from getting hot i could build a baffle box with a fan in or even without i suppose. be nice to eliminate the noises tho.

thing is they just do the job and last for years so i guess it right way about it.
i can not fault the things tbh.

i am going to do a check on the temps no i have done this to if i can find my temp gauge. now that would be intresting to see too.

Wow great write-up, thanks for posting! Mine are now 2 years old, but it's good to have these pictures.

Glad they are of some use, i should try get hold of some spares for them really as the bush wears out and the runner going up the shafts.
Also the limit stops cam break.
But i don't push them that far

Hmmm...mine are about 10 yrs old with maybe somewhere around 1000 hrs of use. Only guessing on the hours, as this is basically only a 5 month a yr, winter time activity for me. Hence my the lack of participation in the forum.
So far so good....2 dof, diy seat mover, built in 08-09 and I weigh between 200- 230lbs and basically have it set to enhance the experience, so the movement isn't wild. But I got to say, they do get a good workout playing these rally games.

Thanks for sharing! I`ve have 2 scn5`s for about 11 years and they still hold up. One of them has a small bit of play in them already after the first year. So I took them apart several times to regrease and inspect. The play is caused by something in the thread. I`m not able to repair it. Does anybody know if spare parts are available? preferably in europe?

Frex may have parts, as I believe they are building them in house.

https://frex.com/store/

Hi
Not sure if you still have your scn5 , i have mine still and still running ok, getting a bit worse for noise, but this if you check yours is most likely the brass fitting (i think its brass) where the shaft comes out, that wears away and the play becomes a knocking/ clicking sound sounds then.
i am trying to get some but i think they have to be made special.
any engineering place could make them.
i will defo post up if i get any made.

F1iceman

Hello all,

I also have two SCN5 with 150 mm stroke length in use for my Seatmover. I bought this from simxperience in 2015 (DIY kit) and don't use it that often, between 2017 and 2022 the whole rig stood still as I had a lot to do around the house.
However, both actuators have had axial backlash for some time, especially on one side. I estimate that it was about 0.5 - 1 mm. I took the actuator apart to have a closer look and it is the brass nut. This has too much width both axially and radially and you can move it in the direction of the axle and also tilt it.
Greasing the nut again only brings short-term success, if there is any improvement at all.
I decided to replace the brass nut with a 3D printed one. As the brass nut is embedded in the guide part that moves in the cylinder, I redesigned the guide part with the thread and made it from a single piece of solid material.

I also glued the driven rod, which is glued into the brass nut in the original, back into the new guide part.

It's been assembled for a few days now and I've been testing it for some time. So far everything is running smoothly again, only the plain bearing on the top cover, which guides the rod, still needs to be replaced with a new one. This sliding bearing also has a bit of some air in it and so the rod can move to the side, especially when it is fully extended.
If the self-printed part proves to be stable, I have already considered replacing the spindle completely with a suitable nut. The original spindle is a trapezoidal spindle with a diameter of 8 mm and a pitch of 6 mm per turn. I would like to install a 10 mm spindle with a 3 mm pitch. This would give me a speed of only 200 mm/s instead of 400 mm/s, which corresponds to the SCN6 actuators. These actuators are also used for seatmovers, but the SCN5 would then have twice the power for the movement.
Now, of course, the question is whether something needs to be reconfigured on the SCN5 itself, or whether the electronics themselves will notice during initialisation that twice the number of turns is now required for x mm of travel and the same for acceleration.
Does anyone know whether the controller recognises a changed spindle ratio by itself or whether adjustments need to be made to the controller?

Thanks and best regards.